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»	Cruise Talk » Cruise Lines » The "NEW" way of tipping.

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Topic: The "NEW" way of tipping.

Katie O'Girl
First Class Passenger
Member # 2704

posted 02-18-2002 11:48 PM

I was looking around and found a newsletter on a Carnival Message Board site so I decided to read it and see what I could learn.
I thought that this tipping stuff was bad but wait until you read this............

"Having worked on 17 ships over the past 27 years, I am really amazed at the public's confusion over the new charged tips on several cruise lines. Have a look:
The Old Way: At the end of the cruise, you stuffed the envelopes and found me at some point before you left. I pocketed all the envelopes, ans looked for the guests who somehow avoided me. As soon as the last guest left the ship, all the waiters went to the Captain's Table in the dining room, met the maitre d' there, and put all of our envelopes on the table. He counted the money, POOLED it, and then doled it out based on a very complicated point system. He then asked certain waiters why they had not received as much as was expected. Nobody knew......

The New Way:
As soon as the last guest leaves the ship, all the waiters go the the Captain's Table in the dining room. The Maitre d'is there with all the charged tips he just received from the Chief Purser. He also has all the forms filled out by guests who did not like the new system. On many of those forms, they have explained why they chose not to use the new system. The maitre d' POOLS the money received from the charges and invites us to put in any monies we received directly from the guests. The he dolesout the money, based on the same complicated point system he always used. His assistants are meanwhile totaling up how much each waiter donated to the tip pool based on how many seats he served during the cruise. Any waiters who do not meet a certain tip amount - or who were mentioned on the forms filled out by guests - are singled out as those who have taken money out of the pockets of the others. Finally we have a way to tell if a guest didn't tip because he was cheap, didn't like the service, or if the waiter received an envelope and decided to keep it to himself. This really helps us weed out the weak units on our team - and to make more money for all of us.
How is that for incentive?"

So the tips that we give are POOLED!! That is NOT fair to the person that you tipped because of good service. So if you choose not to tip the Maitre'D because he did nothing for you, he gets part of your money ANYWAY!!
I'm totally disgusted with this.

Posts: 101 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged

cruznut6
First Class Passenger
Member # 543

posted 02-19-2002 10:33 AM

Katie

NCL and Princess do the "automatic" tipping now also. Do to "cheap stakes" who stiff their servers and attendents, this ensures them at least some earnings, plus they can see who didn't tip them. I know many countries find tipping a crazy way (me too)to get proper service, but it's how cruise lines and Americans do it.BTW, I sailed both NCL and Princess since this policy and give any extra incentive in "cash". That way, it's his or hers to keep, without pooling. I still enjoy giving an extra incentive for service above the norm (JMO).

Regards...Bob
Caribbean Blue-Enya

Posts: 161 | From: Mount Laurel, NJ, USA | Registered: Apr 99 | IP: Logged

Dolphins
First Class Passenger
Member # 2043

posted 02-19-2002 10:40 AM

I don't for a minute believe that freely given tips on HAL are pooled. How is it possible to determine if anybody is witholding the tips from the "pool?" Most HAL cruisers prefer rewarding specific employees for excellent service. Poor service should never be rewarded. Finally, I would think the cruise line would be happy not be burdened with the possible morale problems created by their distributing tips.

Posts: 324 | From: Commack, New York | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

cncservo
First Class Passenger
Member # 532

posted 02-19-2002 10:50 AM

I can't believe this is standard procedure on the Cruise lines. Sounds like the old art of pimping by the Maitre d'.

Posts: 170 | Registered: May 99 | IP: Logged

gohaze
First Class Passenger
Member # 586

posted 02-19-2002 11:24 AM

Katie...you haven't been on your first cruise yet, so please don't call something disgusting based on one article you've read.A TIP, which supposedly stands for "To Insure Promptness", or tips have been around for a couple of thousand years, going back to Roman times and probably before.
So systems for doing it have grown up in different countries and indutries over the years. A well known historic one is the origin of Boxing Day. On ships it has always been there and the way they are distributed is as varied as the companies. On Greek ships, for example, it is in the Union contract, regarding the pooling and sharing.
As for the waiters on cruise ships, keep in mind that it's the Maitre'd/Restaurant manager who is in charge of the assignment of tables and who works which eating facility. With the "old system" you mentioned, you were assigned a table and had the same waiter all trip. It was easy then to express one's pleasure with the service - or the opposite. If an individual's contributions to the pool was consistantly low then it was easy to see that he wasn't doing a very good job. A good waiter with good tables would on the other hand be contributing more. Obviously then you have to have some sort of equitable distribution.
Now, with umpteen different places to eat you can have a different server every meal and how are you going to tip them?
I think the new way where one still has the option of being able to cancel or modify one's tips if you are not happy, is probably the best route. Hopefully, if you do cancel or modify, then the Pursers Office should follow up to find out why - though somehow I doubt that will happen on a lot of ships.
So, Katie, don't worry about the system, it's been going a long time....just go and have a really enjoyable holiday.
...peter

[ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: gohaze ]

Posts: 1909 | From: Vancouver.BC | Registered: Sep 99 | IP: Logged

Namlit
First Class Passenger
Member # 1940

posted 02-19-2002 02:48 PM

Very interesting information, Katie. I had no idea that tips were pooled in this fashion on the major cruise lines, and I've cruised for years. There certainly seems little reason to tip more than the "suggested amount" to anyone, unless you do it the way Dolphin suggested. My approach on my next cruise will be to go along with the automatic tipping charge (it is a big part of their wages), and to slip people who take good care of me a little extra personally.

Posts: 309 | From: Greene County, Indiana, USA | Registered: Apr 2001 | IP: Logged

Grant
First Class Passenger
Member # 1000

posted 02-19-2002 09:29 PM

Perhaps on the Greek Lines which openly mention this system. As for the major cruise lines, I for one do not believe 1 word of it!! On a recent cruise our table held very detailed discussions concerning tips with our waiter who was a real veteran of several cruise lines. There was no mention of this happening, and in fact he said "that we have access to our automatic tip money as soon as shipboard accounts close, into either or ship board account, shore side bank account or in cash".

Posts: 834 | From: Victoria, BC, Canada | Registered: Jan 2000 | IP: Logged

Green
First Class Passenger
Member # 171

posted 02-19-2002 09:53 PM

Grant

On which Line were you cruising?

As regular HAL cruisers, I'll second Dolphins post. We tip in cash , with a personal, handshake 'thank you'. How can the stewards, waiters tips be ascertained? - can't quite believe that individuals are 'searched' for cash in the pocket!

Posts: 2913 | From: Markham, Ontario, Canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

Katie O'Girl
First Class Passenger
Member # 2704

posted 03-04-2002 04:01 AM

After reading and hearing so many different things about tipping I just decided to ASK the people that I supposed to tip while on my cruise.
I did leave the suggested tip money on my credit card from the start and decided to wait until the end of the cruise to see if we should add more in person or adjust it on the last day for less than good service. As it was the service was so much better than just GOOD that we left it and added more in person.
I asked three different men if it was true about "pooling the tips". One was from Romania, one from India and one from the Philippines. They all said "No, not on Carnival do they pool the tips." They said that it IS done on a couple of European cruiselines that they knew of but not on any American ones to their knowledge.
They also did say that they have no way of knowing "who leaves what" amount until two weeks after the cruise when it is deposited into their shipboard accounts. Only the stewards know if you left the tips by your Sign and Sail card or not because they are required to leave the envelopes in your room on the last night of the cruise for tips if you took them off of your card but they don't know the amounts.
I just explained that I was very ignorant about cruising and the tipping procedure and hoped that my questions were not offensive to them. They were really quite nice. The one from Romania said that there is no way that you can take out a mortgage like in the same way as America and Europe yet because of their economy so you have to save a great amount for a house. He was on his last 8 month contract and was going home to his wife and two little sons and a "regular job" after this cruise because he finally had enough money saved for the house. He'd worked 11 years on cruise ships. 8 months on and 2 months off for Carnival for the last 5 years. The other guy said that it was true that they got $50 per month and the rest was tips and that if no one ate in the dining room then there were no tips for those tables. The first night there were only 4 of us present for 22 seats of our servers tables. He laughed and said that sometimes it was like that but that the next cruise there would be a full crowd with good tippers and it would make up for the bad nights.
On one night when one of the girls was sick at our table and only her husband showed up they insisted on sending up a dinner to her because she loved lobster and it was the only night that they had it. They also were very nice if you had something that you didn't care for. They tried to replace it with something else or bring you something different that you'd like.
I was pleased with everything but a couple of ladies were ill and they really wanted to make sure that they were really sick and not just unhappy with the food. It was "Try this or try that" or "pick anything you like and we'll get it." I was very surprised at how attentive they were and how hard they tried to please everyone.
They were wonderful.

Posts: 101 | From: Ireland | Registered: Jan 2002 | IP: Logged

sympatico
First Class Passenger
Member # 797

posted 03-04-2002 09:21 AM

As far as I know, the tips on HAL ships are NOT pooled. Last Christmas we had a real dunce for an Assistant Waiter and the whole table chose not to tip him. Thought maybe he would get the message. Our waiter did double duty and we rewarded him for this.

Posts: 3305 | From: Toronto, Ont. Canada | Registered: Jul 99 | IP: Logged

Amerikanis
First Class Passenger
Member # 1835

posted 03-04-2002 10:24 AM

Katie, for very good Food, try Celebrity.

Each Menu is composed by French Master Cook MICHEL ROUX, who had 3 Stars in the MICHELIN GUIDE, this is the highest possible Rating.

For example: in Germany with its 80 Million Inhabitants, there are only 4 Restaurants where the Chiefcook has 3 Stars of the Michelin...

You can choose everything from the Menu, without Limit. I often choose 2 Entrees, 2 Appetizers, 2 or 3 Soups and 2 Desserts.

I seldom take Pasta and never Cheeseplate.

To drink, there is for free: Icetea, Coffee,
Tea, Cacao or Milk. In the Buffets, there are drink-stations with Juices.

Never i take Alcoholics, not when i should pay them, and not when they are free (for Captains Club Members Reunion Party, for example).

so, try the HORIZON; ZENITH; CENTURY; GALAXY; MERCURY; MILLENIUM; SUMMIT; INFINITY; CONSTELLATION.

You will never regret this.

Posts: 1034 | From: Gutach, Black Forest, Germany | Registered: Mar 2001 | IP: Logged

Dolphins
First Class Passenger
Member # 2043

posted 03-04-2002 11:15 AM

French Master Chef Michel Roux may COMPOSE those menus but he can't supervise the chefs on all the ships who must have some leeway in preparing the food. My experience has been that the food on Celebrity was over-rated and certainly not superior to HAL. Finally, I much prefer HAL's tipping policy to that of Celebrity.

Posts: 324 | From: Commack, New York | Registered: May 2001 | IP: Logged

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